The arrests were made as special forces carried out a raid on a property in Kabul on Tuesday evening, seizing weapons and explosives and killing five members of the joint network.

Five members of an Islamic State terror cell that attacked the largest American base in Afghanistan earlier this year were killed in a series of operations by Afghan commandos in and around Kabul, Afghan officials said Wednesday.

Zalmay Khalilzad will press Taliban, India and Pakistan to support a reduction in violence amid surging Taliban attacks.

The Taliban has called on the Afghan government to speed up the release of prisoners in order to pave the way for negotiations with the militant movement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday that the Taliban were not living up to their commitments under an agreement signed this year, amid signs the fragile deal is under strain by a political deadlock and increasing Taliban violence.

Representatives of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Taliban insurgents engaged in a rare public spat on Saturday, venting on social media about the stalling Afghan peace process.

Afghan Taliban insurgents killed 17 civilians and wounded 49 during the first week of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, further chipping away at their pledge to reduce violence following a peace deal with the U.S.

Previously secret agreement emerges as spokesmen for US military and Taliban clash on Twitter

The government’s internal watchdog for Afghan reconstruction said that when the U.S. signed a short-term peace deal, NATO stopped releasing Taliban attack data.

Facing an emboldened Taliban, and with less U.S. military support, Afghan forces have suffered heavy casualties during a two-month surge in violence across the country that is threatening to jeopardize a fragile peace deal between the United States and the Taliban.